Morning Reads for June 14, 2017

As most of us shuffle across the house this morning for that first cup of coffee, in Middle Georgia there are Law Enforcement Officers who have continued the search throughout the night for the two men who murdered two Georgia Correctional Officers yesterday morning. There isn’t anything new to report on the massive manhunt that is ongoing, but our hearts and prayers go out to the families of Officer Monica and Officer Billue, as well as the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Columbus is looking to add a VA Clinic in South Columbus. A first reading of the request to re-zone occurred Tuesday evening and will go back before the City Council on June 20th.

This is stupid, Noway. This guy’s politics are just as unimportant and inconsequential as Jared Loughner’s were after the Gabby Giffords shooting.

This was an unhinged individual with access to a rifle and a willingness to use it. Anyone trying to politicize this should be ashamed. (Yes, I would be saying the same thing if a Trump supporter opened fire at the Democrat’s practice.)

We should not turn tragedies like this into a means of scoring points against the other team. These are the moments to come together and recognize our common humanity outweighs whatever policy differences we may have.

My favorite part of working in DC was the ability to meet and exchange ideas with staffers from Republican offices over some Tortilla Coast. We disagreed frequently, but those policy differences never created personal animosity. I may think Paul Ryan is a talentless hack whose policies are actively bad for America, but I’m sure he’s a decent person out of the office. His staff, however misguided on economics and health care policy, were and are still good people. This is a really sad day for me and for anyone who loves Congress as an institution. My prayers for Rep. Scalise, the wounded staffers, Capitol Police, and everyone affected by this. Hopefully this brings a halt to some of the acrimony on the Hill right now.

This building has an new exterior insulated cladding material on it from it’s 2016 remodel. If you look at the photos of early pictures, you will see the flames are shooting out of the lower sections of the windows in the majority of the openings. Even with out a sprinkler system in a building, flames feed up, so it is unlikely the lower interior surface is igniting first.

Although there have been reports of a gas smell in the building – which might have started the fire, exterior walls should not have that quick of a flame spread on new cladding.